A/N — (le awks again) … aloha everyone! so, it's been … a year? /scratches head — holy shit I am terribly terribly sorry about that I didn't even realize haha ^^; to make up for my stupidity and lousy updating skills I'm now going to promise you — one update every two-three weeks. No more annual updates! hahahahahaha that's actually kind of funny, annual updates. I have absolutely no idea how many chapters I have planned for this but you can be assured that it's going to be quite a long thing because for now I'm just going to let the plot run by itself and leave future!me to do cleaning up. (:

and oh god 103 reviews?! seriously?! I can't even believe how amazing you guys are lots and lots of love from me kisses everywhere argh why you guys so wonderful I can't

a longer chapter to make up for everything :P enjoy!

… then again, does anyone even read this story anymore?

Somewhere In Time
by xoxoisabelle / kaworu nagisa

Chapter Six – You Potter Boys

"Again?" Once more, James beat him to it, repeating the word before Harry could even open his mouth. "Professor, you know Gr — Harry?"

"Harry?" McGonagall's eyes narrowed. "Harry? Your name is Harry?"

What? That was Harry's first reaction. But McGonagall — she — how could she know me, yet not know my name? "Uh, yes, Professor. My name is Harry Granger. I'm … the new transfer student." Inside, he was reeling. None of this made sense. Not yet.

"Ah." McGonagall seemed to compose herself some, drawing herself to her full height, yet the startled, frantic look remained in her eyes. Her gaze landed on James, then returned to Harry. "Professor Dumbledore has told me about you, Mister … Granger. I am Professor McGonagall. I will be your Head of House, as well as your Transfiguration teacher. No doubt you are disoriented by your surroundings, and therefore Mister Potter will be your … guide, until you settle in."

"What?" Both Harry and James exclaimed at the same time, neither able to hold it in.

"But, Professor —" Harry began.

"That's impossible!" James shook his head.

McGonagall's gaze grew fierce. "Are you questioning my authority, both of you?"

"Nope," both echoed simultaneously. McGonagall seemed satisfied. "Good." Her eyes lingered on Harry a tad longer than they should have, but she seemed to shake it off as she turned on her heel. "Very well then. The hour is late; both of you should be heading to bed." She paused, just before entering her office. "I'll see you …" there was a heavy tone to her voice. " … in the morning."

Then she was gone, leaving a very confused Harry and a very unhappy James alone with each other in the hallway.

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Lily Evans was waiting for James Potter.

It was a strange thing when worded, she mused, but it was the truth nonetheless — there she was, up on a school night, waiting for James Potter in their shared common room, sitting in an armchair by the fire.

There was a reason to her staying up, of course. First was the boy that James Potter had inexplicably brought up to the castle earlier that day. The boy that looked exactly like James Potter, except with a different pair of eyes.

Her eyes.

She shook her head; she was being unrealistic. They're just eyes, many people have green eyes, she thought. But the exact same shape, the exact same colour? That was slightly more difficult to explain. Nonetheless, they're just eyes, she berated herself; therefore she should stop thinking about them and move on. It should have been that simple.

But they haunted her. And she had no one better to ask.

The second reason was because that night was the day of their shared patrol. This was an occurrence that didn't often happen; more than often they were paired up with prefects and the odd teacher. They had shared patrol maybe … once a month? Once in two months? Not to say that she particularly enjoyed these experiences … not at all.

But yet … they were probably the most peace she ever got on her evenings. James Potter was a good listener, and she found it easy to talk to him. Some nights she thought they might even be friends, but his behaviour during the day and his choice of friends often got in the way of that.

The door to their common room swung open, and there stood James Potter, obviously deep in thought, with his eyes on the floor and his poise weary.

"Potter!" she stood up, and planted her hands on her hips. "You're late. You were supposed to be here —" but then he looked up, and she saw the conflict in his hazel eyes, immediately sensing something was troubling him. Lily's gaze softened. "James. What's the matter?"

"I've just been assigned to be the new student's … guide, buddy, whatever you call it," he said. She straightened.

"Well, that's nothing to be brooding about."

His gaze darkened. "I don't trust him."

"Hard to trust someone you know nothing about."

"No, that's not it." James shook his head wearily. "He appeared in the middle of the day, thrashing about with the giant squid, during lesson time, and nobody had seem him at all prior to that."

"So?"

"So?" he sounded incredulous. "Someone appears, in full Hogwarts uniform, wand and all, in the middle of the day, in the lake, and that's not a reason for suspicion?"

Lily shrugged. "Well, it's Hogwarts, isn't it? Strange things happen around here. But of course it's a reason for suspicion, and that's exactly what I wanted to ask you about. You just found him … in the lake?"

"Yes."

"When you were skiving off History of Magic."

James shot her a pained look. "Yes, Evans."

"I, personally, don't know whether you should be more worried about him just materialising in the lake, or the fact that he looks exactly like you." Lily took a step towards him; he eyed her warily.

"What?"

She sighed and rolled her eyes. "It's our shared patrol night, you idiot. And we're half an hour late, so we should get a move on."

He sighed too. "But of course. A new transfer student appears, and Lily Evans thinks about her Head Girl duties." He could tell she wasn't about to change her stance. "Lead the way."

Satisfied, she moved past him to the portrait hole, and with another sigh, he followed too.

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James walked him to the Fat Lady. "Password's illuminati," he said grudgingly. "You know where the boy's dorm is." And just like that, he was gone. My father is an extremely friendly person, thought Harry, full of vitriol, before he shuddered. That was my father. My father is a seventeen-year-old, and I'm eighteen. Even though he'd considered it before, the thought was still as terrifying as it had been.

"Illuminati," he said to the Fat Lady, who swung outwards, revealing the common room, which was, thankfully, mostly empty. However, that didn't stop the occupants of the room from swivelling around simultaneously to pin him with their questioning stares, right up till he disappeared up the staircase leading up to his dormitory.

The dormitory wasn't any friendlier. The three Marauders all looked up, and while Remus said, "Hey, Harry," pleasantly enough, Sirius just turned around with a contemptuous snort and Peter stared at him until he felt uncomfortable.

He moved over to his father's bed, upon which Sirius called out, "and your stuff hasn't turned up yet."

"I noticed," Harry answered, and seated himself on the edge of the bed, feeling as though he were trespassing into his father's territory.

One of the other boys in the room stood up and offered a hand to Harry, smiling. "Hey. I'm Frank Longbottom. Nice to meet you, Harry Granger." Frank Longbottom. Neville's dad. He couldn't help but smile back and shake the proffered hand.

"Hey, Frank."

"This is Gideon Prewett," Frank gestured at a dark-haired boy lounging on a bed at the other end; the other boy acknowledged him good-naturedly. "It's real nice to meet you."

"And you," Harry replied. He felt more at ease now, despite still being under the frightened, questioning, suspicious eyes of Peter, Remus and Sirius respectively. Frank looked at Gideon once more, who shrugged, and then returned his gaze to Harry. "You can have the first shower slot today, since you're new."

"The preferential treatment only extends to newbies," shouted Gideon, and threw a pillow across the room at Sirius, who made a dive for the only bathroom in the dormitory.

"And he scores!" Frank narrated with a roll of his eyes as Sirius went down, clutching his face and moaning, "I won't be pretty anymore!"

"Are you for real?" Gideon snorted.

"Yes, he's serious," Harry said, half-jokingly. He hadn't expected anyone to hear him, much less respond. Yet Frank and Gideon and Remus all burst into roars of laughter, while Peter cast a nervous glance at Sirius and let out a high-pitched chuckle. Sirius stopped rolling around abruptly, stood, and walked over to Harry's four-poster, staring down at him menacingly.

"Look," he began, and Harry's smile faded, "I don't know who you are, much less where you're from or what you're here fore, and I'm certainly not about to start trusting you, but for some reason, you remind me of the old James."

"Maybe it's the face," Remus called.

"Or the cheekbones," Gideon said, patting his cheeks effeminately and eliciting more laughter from the other boys.

"No," Sirius said, staring down at Harry. "It's something else." And for the first time in what seemed like forever, he smiled, a half-smile that gave Harry hope.

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"The first step to surviving Hogwarts," Sirius told him, as they headed down the hallway to their first lesson, "is to be skilful." He clapped Harry on the shoulder cheerfully and winked at a couple of passing girls; they giggled and hurried off.

"In what aspects?"

"All aspects," Sirius stressed. "Whether it comes to the ladies, the teachers, or even — oh, hang on a moment," he added as James hauled him quickly to aside.

"What are you doing, Sirius?"

"I'm just chilling, Prongs. Taking life easy. Surely you know what that means?" Sirius tucked his arms behind his head while Peter hovered nervously in the background and Remus swiftly engaged Harry in conversation. The other boy cast James a glance, which James acknowledged with an equally friendly stare, before turning back to his best friend.

"Why are you suddenly all pally with the new student?"

"Aw," Sirius pouted, "is Jamsie jealous of Granger? Does widdle Jamsie want me to stay with him at all times?"

"Quit it," snapped James, raising his voice slightly. "I just want to know, why you two are suddenly friends, and why —"

In the background, Remus said, extremely loudly, "SO HOW DO YOU FIND HOGWARTS SO FAR, HARRY?"

"Jamsie," Sirius lowered his voice conspiratorially, "you were the one who said we shouldn't be too harsh on him! After all, he's new, and he doesn't have many friends —"

"When on earth did I say that?"

"DID YOU LIKE THE EGGS WE HAD FOR BREAKFAST, HARRY?" Remus all but shouted from their left. Harry looked slightly confused, but answered anyway.

Sirius shrugged, incensing James further. "Look, I talked with Evans last night, and all I'm saying is that we shouldn't trust him yet —"

"DO YOU LIKE EGGS, HARRY? BECAUSE I LOVE EGGS!" Remus roared in the background. James finally had the good sense to shut up as Harry answered, " … yes, Prof — Remus, I do like eggs. Do you think you could be a little more quiet?"

Later, when a stern Professor McGonagall was telling off Remus for causing a public disturbance, Sirius winked at Harry. "This is what I mean, Granger. You have to be skilful, eh?"

Standing slightly behind them, James narrowed his eyes.

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It got worse when he was placed next to Granger for Transfiguration. And even worse when it turned out Granger was good at Potions, and Slughorn and Lily took an interest in him. By lunch time, when Sirius invited Granger to sit with them, James had had enough.

He moved down the table until he was standing in front of Lily and her usual lunch crowd, and asked, extremely loudly, "Lily, may I have your permission to sit with you for lunch?"

"You may," Lily said, standing up as well amidst the giggles, and followed him to the deserted end of the Gryffindor table, where she seated herself opposite him and stared at him, sensing something was wrong. "What's the matter now?"

James stared at his food. "Granger's sitting with my friends."

"Isn't that a good thing?"

"No!" he burst out, and then hesitated. "Well … no. Definitely not a good thing." Lily raised her eyebrows.

"It's just this feeling I'm getting — they're using him as … a replacement for me," James admitted finally. He forked up a chunk of goodness-knows-what from his plate and shoved it in his mouth, only to spit it back out with a mental note to know what he was eating before doing so in future.

Lily seemed to be suppressing laughter, so James went on hurriedly to explain this sentiment. "Because you see, he looks like me, and I haven't been spending time with the Marauders lately … plus Sirius seems to be treating him the way he used to treat me. Remus is nice to everyone, but I don't know about Peter … for some while now, I've been feeling like we're becoming distant. Sirius even said that I was becoming boring."

The warning bell tolled throughout the Great Hall, reminding everyone that the next lesson was about to begin. Lily looked up, briefly, before returning her gaze to James. "Look, James. I'm pretty sure — heck, I'm completely sure that your friends would never and could never replace you. There's no need to be so self-conscious! Is this what's been bothering you?"

Half-ashamed now, James nodded. This time around, Lily couldn't suppress her laughter, throwing her head back and laughing until her cheeks hurt. When she looked back to him, face flushed rosily and her green eyes sparkling, she said, "Oh, you Potter boys, you shouldn't be jealous of one another," and rolled her eyes before gathering her lunch and standing. "Look, I've got to go now, I'll see you later, okay?"

He nodded, and only when she'd gone did James finally realise what she'd said.

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Harry didn't get to see Luna again until dinner. As they settled at the Ravenclaw table she chattered happily about her day of lessons, and how she'd spent the entire of Herbology pruning this bush that squirted this in her face, etcetera, until Harry had the good sense to stop her and ask her the question that'd been bothering him all along.

"Luna … how did you end up in 1977?"

She fell silent, her words trailing off into the empty air. "It was this parcel," she said, quietly. "It arrived at the beginning of this year — right after the war ended. Daddy thought it might be the Construct-Your-Own-Crumple-Horned-Snorkack set I'd been waiting for … but no, it was just this bowl thing. It came with a note: Daddy said it was my mother's handwriting. Which made me think, maybe this was some present my mother had arranged for me to be sent on that day!"

Here she seemed to fall into contemplation, pursing her lips and frowning. "But then again … it wasn't on my birthday. It was a few days before. And there was only an accompanying vial with it, labelled 1976."

An irregularity, Harry thought. I got 1977. She got 1976. But why? What's the significance?

"And then … here I was. I didn't know what to do, so I just came into the castle and went to see Professor Dumbledore. He was very understanding. Not that I mind being here, I never did finish my sixth and seventh years of schooling. I'm taking my NEWTs this year, are you?"

"Luna …" Harry trailed off; her smile dimmed.

"Yes?"

"Aren't you … I mean, aren't you worried?" Harry scratched his head. "I mean, we're in 1977. We have no way of getting back. I'm only going to be born in three years —" he winced; there was another strange thought. " — and you're only going to be born in four. And then what, we watch ourselves grow up? And … what about Voldemort?"

"Well," she said, "I believe that there's no point in wondering about something that we can't change. I don't know who sent me that parcel, but I don't think that worrying about it is going to change anything." She sounds older than I am, Harry mused. Luna shrugged. "Besides, at first I was alone. Now you're here. Everything's getting better." Then she smiled at him, and for some reason, he couldn't help but smile back.

Soon. Luna's here with me — we can find our way home. Definitely.

A/N — THERE ARE NO INTENTIONAL HARRY/LUNA UNDERTONES IN THIS :P as you can tell my writing has really morphed and changed since I first started this story so hope it doesn't annoy you so much that you stop reading! again I'm really sorry for the late update and I know I haven't cleared up the McGonagall thing (maybe I won't ever ;) but it will happen lel.

Do review! (: